MAUSAM, 71, 4 (October 2020), 571-584

551.5 : 084.3 (540)

Meteorological sub-divisions of and their geopolitical evolution from 1875 to 2020

R. R. KELKAR and O. P. SREEJITH* C-905 Mont Vert Grande, Pashan, Pune – 411 021, India *India Meteorological Department, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Pune – 411 005, India (Received 10 June 2020, Accepted 15 September 2020) e mail : [email protected]

सार — भारत के मौसम और जलवाय ु की मुख्य िविवधता ने भारत मौसम िवज्ञान िवभाग (IMD) को 1875 म इसकी थापना के तुरंत बाद राजनीित से िभन उनके मौसम संबंधी प्रांत को िचित्रत करन े के िलए प्रेिरत िकया। इन प्रांत को िजह अब मौसम उप-खंड के प म जाना जाता है, 1875 से 2020 तक के वष म इनकी संख्या, नामकरण और थािनक सीमा म बदलाव हुए ह। इस शोध पत्र म इितहास, भूगोल और राजनीितक पिरवतनर् के संबंध म भारत मौसम िवज्ञान िवभाग के 36 मौसम उप-खंड की 2020 तक की िवरासत के बारे म बताया गया है।

ABSTRACT. The great diversity of the weather and climate of India prompted the India Meteorological Department (IMD) soon after its establishment in 1875 to delineate its own meteorological provinces that were different from political ones. These provinces, now known as meteorological sub-divisions, changed in number, nomenclature and spatial extent, over the years from 1875 to 2020. The present paper traces the heritage of IMD’s 36 meteorological sub- divisions as of 2020 to the past, in terms of history, geography and political changes.

Key words – Meteorological sub-divisions of India, Geopolitical evolution.

1. Introduction meteorological provinces for its own purposes. To quote Blanford again, “The country is partitioned out in a The India Meteorological Department (IMD) was number of rainfall provinces, partly conforming to established in 1875 and Henry F. Blanford was appointed administrative divisions, but with such modifications as to as its chief, with the title of Imperial Reporter to the avoid bringing together parts of the country which differ Government of India. Not long thereafter, he wrote, very greatly in their average” (Blanford, 1889). almost poetically: “The connection between the meteorology of a country and the form and clothing of its In 1875, IMD’s area of responsibility extended surface is in all cases very intimate and nowhere more so across the entire south Asian subcontinent from what is than in India”. To this he added one long, explanatory presently Pakistan to what is now known as Myanmar. sentence: “Nor is this influence one-sided only; not only However, IMD was a scientific department and it goes to do the physical condition and movements of the its credit that it could keep the science of meteorology atmosphere depend on the distribution of land and water, from being influenced by its functioning as a government on the directions of mountain chains, the elevation of the department. Since its very inception, IMD took the liberty land above the sea level, the nature of the soil, the of (i) dividing large presidencies, provinces and states into presence of sandy wastes or forest-clad uplands and the smaller divisions or sub-divisions of its own on like; but the fertility of the land surface itself and, in meteorological grounds (ii) combining small territories, certain cases, the very form of that surface, are in no small agencies and states that were meteorologically degree modified by the direct or indirect action of the homogeneous into larger divisions or sub-divisions. In atmosphere” (Blanford, 1877). addition and (iii) IMD also exercised the freedom to give names to its divisions or sub-divisions which it delineated With such a great diversity of the weather and that did not necessarily conform to prevailing political climate that had to be dealt with, IMD could not have used maps. However, weather and climate have not been the political maps of British India for analyzing the weather, only consideration in the design of IMD’s meteorological particularly rainfall and so it delineated its own sub-divisions. For reasons of practical convenience,

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Fig. 1. Meteorological sub-divisions of India (2020) (Source : IMD web site https://mausam.imd.gov.in)

compilation of statistics, issue of weather warnings to comparable in size (Fig. 1). Out of the 36 sub-divisions, 9 government functionaries and informing the general are identical to the states after which they have been public, the sub-divisional boundaries were always made to named. These are ‘Arunachal ’, ‘’, conform at least to the jurisdiction of basic revenue ‘Jharkhand’, ‘’, ‘Uttarakhand’, ‘Punjab’, ‘Himachal districts. Pradesh’, ‘Chattisgarh’ and ‘’.

As IMD’s observatory network expanded and There are 6 sub-divisions that are named as groups methods of data analysis improved, IMD kept on of states or union territories which have a smaller redefining its meteorological provinces from time to time. geographical area and have a similar climate. These are The term meteorological sub-division came into ‘ and Meghalaya’, ‘Nagaland, , Mizoram systematic use somewhere in the middle of the last and ’, ‘Haryana, Chandigarh and ’, ‘Jammu century. Until then, terms like meteorological province, and Kashmir and Ladakh’, ‘Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and division, or district were in vogue and used hierarchically Karaikal’ and ‘Kerala and Mahe’. but at times synonymously. On the other hand, some of the larger states have Since a sub-division by definition has a homogeneity been bifurcated into two meteorological sub-divisions. of climate, it would be just natural for its inhabitants to Thus there are 6 sub-divisions named ‘East ’, have a commonality of language, tradition, culture and ‘West Rajasthan’, ‘East ’, ‘West Uttar thought and even political aspirations. Interestingly, Pradesh’, ‘East ’ and ‘West Madhya therefore, IMD’s delineation of meteorological sub- Pradesh’. The state of Gujarat has 2 sub-divisions which divisions has in many cases been prophetic in the sense are named as ‘Gujarat Region’ and ‘ and that its sub-divisions have later become the nation’s Kutch’. The states of and Sikkim together formal political entities or states. are covered by 2 sub-divisions named as ‘Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim’ and ‘Gangetic West Bengal’. The purpose of this paper is to trace the heritage of Similarly, has 2 sub-divisions IMD’s 36 meteorological sub-divisions as of 2020 to the named as ‘Rayalaseema’ and ‘ Pradesh past, in terms of history, geography and political changes. and ’.

2. Meteorological sub-divisions of India (2020) There are other larger states which have a greater variation in climate within them. Karnataka is divided into Currently, the number of meteorological sub- 3 sub-divisions of ‘Coastal Karnataka’, ‘North Interior divisions in India is 36 and with some exceptions they are Karnataka’ and ‘South Interior Karnataka’. The state of

KELKAR and SREEJITH : METEOROLOGICAL SUB-DIVISIONS OF INDIA 573

Fig. 2. Political map of British India as of 1909, showing princely states in yellow (Source : Imperial Gazetteer of India, Public Domain)

Maharashtra is split into as many as 4 sub-divisions rapidly expanded its trading business and also called ‘Konkan and Goa’, which combines the indulged in fulfilling its political ambitions using heavy rainfall coastal region with the neighbouring state various unscrupulous and ruthless tactics. The of Goa, ‘Madhya Maharashtra’, ‘Marathwada’ and Company made agreements with local rulers, ‘’. annexed their territories and appointed its agents over them. During that period in history, India had Finally, the ‘Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ in the more than 500 princely states, mostly small, over and the ‘Lakshadweep’ islands in the which the company slowly but surely established its Arabian Sea are regarded as 2 separate meteorological firm control even though they were not formally under sub-divisions. its rule. By 1851, the 's sovereignty extended across the three large 3. Meteorological provinces, divisions and districts presidencies of Madras, Bombay and Bengal with its of India (1875-1947) capital at Calcutta and the North-West Provinces governed from Agra. In the aftermath of the Sepoy 3.1. Historical Background Mutiny of 1857, called more appropriately the First War of Indian Independence, the British East India After setting foot in the city of Surat in the early Company was dissolved and India came under the years of the 17th century, the British East India Company direct rule of the British Crown.

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Fig. 3. Meteorological divisions of India (Monthly Weather Review, IMD, January 1908)

Lower Burma was made a part of British India in itself. Both Burma and Ceylon were granted independence 1858, Upper Burma was added in 1886 and the whole of in 1948. Burma renamed itself as Myanmar in 1989 and Burma became a separate British colony in 1937. The Ceylon as Sri Lanka in 1972. In 1947, India was island of Ceylon had been a British colony from 1817 partitioned and India and Pakistan were granted

KELKAR and SREEJITH : METEOROLOGICAL SUB-DIVISIONS OF INDIA 575

independence as separate countries, with Pakistan itself presence there as early as in 1789 and had been using it as comprising two separate wings or exclaves of West a penal colony. In spite of its remoteness from the Indian Pakistan and East Pakistan. In 1970, West Pakistan was mainland, IMD had recognized the importance of the devolved and renamed Pakistan. In 1971, East Pakistan meteorological observations over the islands and had seceded from it and became the new country of named ‘Bay Islands’ as a meteorological province in 1877 Bangladesh. itself.

The political map of British India was thus a 3.3. East and northeast India dynamic one. At the turn of the 20th century (Fig. 2), British India consisted of eight major provinces, Burma, The partition of Bengal in 1905 was a major and Assam, Bengal, United Provinces, Punjab, Central controversial territorial reorganization of the large Bengal Provinces and Berar, Bombay and Madras, which were Presidency by the then Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, administered by a governor or a lieutenant-governor. who created a new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam There also were five minor provinces, Andaman and and joined parts of Orissa and Bihar with Bengal. This Nicobar Islands, Ajmer-Merwara, North-West Frontier partition was however, partially reversed in 1911 when Province, Baluchistan and Coorg, that were administered Eastern Bengal was reunified with Bengal, while Assam, by a chief commissioner. Bihar and Orissa were separated again. In the same year, the capital of India was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi. From the very beginning, therefore, IMD decided to define its own spatial domains that it could adhere to for What is significant is that IMD since the very meteorological analysis and forecasting even while the beginning had never regarded Bengal as a single entity but political boundaries kept changing. In 1877, just a couple had divided it into the meteorological provinces of of years after its establishment, IMD had divided the ‘Assam and Eastern Bengal’, ‘Western Bengal’ and country into 26 areas which it then called meteorological ‘Lower Bengal’. ‘Eastern Himalaya’ was also another provinces. By and large, this demarcation prevailed until meteorological province. After the partition of Bengal was the end of the nineteenth century (Eliot, 1895). Around revoked, IMD reorganized its provinces into ‘Assam’, 190, IMD increased the number of meteorological ‘Bengal’, ‘Orissa’, ‘Chota Nagpur’ and ‘Bihar’. It is provinces to 34 but then onwards preferred to call them worthwhile noting that while IMD had made ‘Orissa’ a divisions, while they were also sometimes referred to as division in 1908 itself, Orissa was actually made a districts. This pattern of meteorological divisions separate political province in 1936 by carving out certain remained essentially unchanged until 1947 (Fig. 3 and portions from the Bihar-Orissa and Madras Provinces. Table 1). 3.4. North and northwest India 3.2. Burma, Ceylon and the Islands in the Bay of Bengal IMD had demarcated ‘Sind’ as a meteorological province in 1908. It was made a political province by IMD initially had three meteorological provinces, separating it from the large in 1936. ‘Arakan’, ‘Pegu’ and ‘Tenasserim’, in Lower Burma. Later when Upper Burma came under British rule, they 3.5. were combined into one province of ‘Lower Burma’ and ‘Upper Burma’ also became a new meteorological The present Vidarbha region of Maharashtra was province. Both ‘Lower Burma’ and ‘Upper Burma’ ceased known as Berar or Berars in British India, its name having to be meteorological divisions of India after Burma been derived from the Marathi word Varhad. Berar was became a British colony in 1937. under the rule of the Nizam of until 1853, when on the pretext of his misgovernance, the British Likewise, Ceylon being a British colony, was never assumed direct control over the province. Berar was regarded as a meteorological sub-division of India, joined with the Central Provinces in 1903. although its data was being included in IMD’s weather reports and analyses. In fact, observatories in Ceylon were Berar has always been given due importance by not under IMD but managed by the Ceylon Surveyor IMD. To start with, IMD had a meteorological province General’s Office (Zubair, 2002). called ‘Berar and Khandesh’, Khandesh being the region presently covered by the districts of Jalgaon and Dhule in The Andaman and Nicobar group of Islands became Maharashtra. Later, it was just ‘Berar’ and afterwards it a part of British India in 1869 and given the status of a was made a part of the larger meteorological province of province in 1875, although the British had established a ‘Central Provinces West’.

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TABLE 1

Meteorological provinces/divisions/districts of India (1875-1947)

Provinces 1877-1889 Divisions 1908-1912 Divisions 1913-1938 Divisions 1938-1947 Total 26 Provinces Total 34 Divisions Total 33 Divisions Total 31 Divisions Bay Islands Bay Islands Bay Islands Bay Islands Arakan Pegu Lower Burma Lower Burma - Tenasserim Upper Burma Upper Burma - Assam Assam and Eastern Bengal Assam Assam Eastern Bengal Eastern Himalaya Western Bengal Bengal Bengal Bengal Lower Bengal Orissa and Northern Circars Orissa Orissa Orissa Chota Nagpur Chota Nagpur Chota Nagpur Bihar Bihar Bihar Bihar United Provinces East United Provinces East United Provinces East North-West Provinces and Oudh United Provinces West United Provinces West United Provinces West Punjab Plains Punjab East and North Punjab East and North Punjab East and North Punjab Southwest Punjab Southwest Punjab Southwest Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir Western Himalaya North-West Frontier Province North-West Frontier Province North-West Frontier Province Baluchistan Baluchistan Baluchistan Sind and Kutch Sind Sind Sind Rajputana West Rajputana West Rajputana West Rajputana West Rajputana East Rajputana East Rajputana East Rajputana East Guzerat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Central India West Central India West Central India West Central India States Central India East Central India East Central India East Central Provinces West Central Provinces West Central Provinces West Central Provinces South Central Provinces East Central Provinces East Central Provinces East Berar and Khandesh Berar Berar Berar Konkan and Ghats Konkan Konkan Konkan North Deccan Bombay Deccan Bombay Deccan Bombay Deccan Hyderabad North Hyderabad North Hyderabad North Hyderabad Hyderabad South Hyderabad South Hyderabad South Mysore and Bellary Mysore Mysore Mysore Malabar and Ghats Malabar Malabar Malabar Madras Coast North Madras Coast North Madras Coast North Carnatic Madras Deccan Madras Deccan Madras Deccan Madras Southeast Madras Southeast Madras Southeast Source : Blanford (1886, 1889) and archives of IMD, Pune

KELKAR and SREEJITH : METEOROLOGICAL SUB-DIVISIONS OF INDIA 577

3.6. Western and south India It was around 1952 that IMD adopted ‘meteorological sub-division’ as its standard terminology While the Bombay and Madras states covered in place of varied terms like meteorological province, extensive areas of the country, IMD had separated them division or district used before. In 1947, undivided India into several meteorological divisions and they continued had 31 meteorological divisions of which 26 remained in as such until India got independence (Table 1). India after independence, either wholly or in part. In the initial years, while India’s internal political boundaries It is interesting to note that initially, during underwent rapid changes, it was prudent on IMD’s part 1877-1889, along the west coast of the peninsula there not to make a hurried and abrupt transition to a new sub- were two meteorological provinces named as ‘Konkan and divisional pattern. The delineation of a meteorological Ghats’ and ‘Malabar and Ghats’. Subsequently, they were sub-division is not simply a matter of territorial renamed as ‘Konkan’ and ‘Malabar’ divisions, with the adjustment but involves the exhaustive compilation of Ghats regions decoupled from the coastal regions and statistics like normals, averages and records of extreme joined with the adjacent divisions to their east. More events, as well as carrying out internal homogeneity recent changes in the sub-divisions are discussed in checks. IMD settled down to a new pattern of 27 sub- Sections 4.5 and 4.6. The implications of these changes, divisions by 1952, which was further modified in 1957 particularly in respect of the Ghats, are discussed in the bringing their number to 29. Thereafter the total number companion paper by Kulkarni et al. (2020). of sub-divisions has increased at a very conservative pace and it currently stands at 36, meaning that only 4. Meteorological sub-divisions of India (1947-2020) 7 sub-divisions have been added in the last 63 years [Tables 2(a&b)]. There have, however, been several 4.1. Historical background changes in the names of sub-divisions over the years as discussed below. Between 1947 and 1950, the first three years after India got its independence from British rule, the 4.2. East and northeast India territories of the numerous princely states were politically integrated into the Indian Union. Most of them In 1953, IMD bifurcated the ‘Bihar’ sub-division were merged into existing provinces, many were into ‘Chota Nagpur’ and ‘Bihar’ sub-divisions. In 1958, as organised into new provinces and some of the larger a part of the linguistic reorganization of states, the princely states became separate provinces. In 1950, these princely states of the Chota Nagpur plateau were merged provinces were categorized as Part A, B and C states of into a larger state of Bihar. However, IMD chose to keep India as follows: the sub-divisions separate and only renamed them as ‘Bihar Plateau’ and Bihar Plains’ in 1959. IMD’s foresight Part A states : Assam, Bihar, Bombay (formerly seemed justified as four decades later, Bihar was again Bombay Province), , Madhya Pradesh split into two. The plateau area of Bihar became the new (formerly Central Provinces and Berar), Madras, Orissa, state of Jharkhand and the plains became the smaller state Uttar Pradesh (formerly the United Provinces) and West of Bihar. In 2001, IMD only had to change the names of Bengal. the sub-divisions to ‘Jharkhand’ and ‘Bihar’.

Part B states : Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, In 1952, IMD also bifurcated its ‘Bengal’ sub- , Mysore, Patiala and East Punjab States division into ‘Sub-Himalayan West Bengal’ and ‘Gangetic Union (PEPSU), Rajasthan (formerly Rajputana Agency), West Bengal’ sub-divisions. These have remained Saurashtra and Travancore-Cochin. essentially the same till now, except that in 1976, the area of the ‘Sub-Himalayan West Bengal’ sub-division was Part C states : Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg, extended northwards to cover the new state of Sikkim and Delhi, , Kutch, Manipur, Tripura and the name changed to ‘Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Vindhya Pradesh. Sikkim’.

Part D state : Only Andaman and Nicobar Islands After the reversal of the partition of Bengal in 1911, were placed in this category. the entire northeastern region of India remained as just one meteorological sub-division, ‘Assam’, for a very long A major restructuring of Indian states, mainly on time. It was only in 1965 that IMD bifurcated it into two linguistic grounds, was implemented in 1956 in which meteorological sub-divisions, ‘North Assam’ and ‘South several existing states were reorganized and many new Assam’. Seven years later, major political changes states were created. followed. In 1972, a new state of Meghalaya was created

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TABLE 2 (a)

Meteorological sub-divisions of India (1947-1968)

1947 Post- 1952-1956 1957-1958 1959 1960 1961-1963 1964 1965-1966 1967-1968 independence Total Total 26 Total 27 Total 29 Total 29 Total 29 Total 30 Total 31 Total 32 33 Sub- Sub-divisions Sub-divisions Sub-divisions Sub-divisions Sub-divisions Sub-divisions Sub-divisions Sub-divisions divisions (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) - - Bay Islands Bay Islands Bay Islands Bay Islands Bay Islands Bay Islands Bay Islands North Assam North Assam Assam Assam Assam Assam Assam Assam Assam South Assam South Assam Sub- Sub- Sub- Sub- Sub- Sub- Sub- Sub- Himalayan Himalayan Himalayan Himalayan Himalayan Himalayan Himalayan Himalayan Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal Gangetic Gangetic Gangetic Gangetic Gangetic Gangetic Gangetic Gangetic West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal Orissa Orissa Orissa Orissa Orissa Orissa Orissa Orissa Orissa Chota Chota Chota Bihar Plateau Bihar Plateau Bihar Plateau Bihar Plateau Bihar Plateau Bihar Plateau Nagpur Nagpur Nagpur Bihar Bihar Bihar Bihar Plains Bihar Plains Bihar Plains Bihar Plains Bihar Plains Bihar Plains United Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Provinces East East East East East East East East East United Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Provinces West West West West West West West West West

Punjab and Punjab Punjab (I) Delhi Haryana Punjab Punjab (I) Punjab (I) Punjab (I) Punjab (I) Punjab (I) Himachal Himachal Himachal Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Jammu and Jammu and Jammu and Jammu and Jammu and Jammu and Jammu and Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir Rajputana West Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan East Rajasthan West West West West West West West Rajputana East Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan East Rajasthan East East East East East East East Central India Madhya ------West Bharat Central India Vindhya ------East Pradesh Central West Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Provinces Pradesh Pradesh West Pradesh West Pradesh West Pradesh West Pradesh West Pradesh West Pradesh West West Central Provinces East Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya East Pradesh Pradesh East Pradesh East Pradesh East Pradesh East Pradesh East Pradesh East Pradesh East Berar East Gujarat East Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat State Gujarat State State State Region Region Region Region Gujarat Saurashtra Saurashtra Saurashtra Saurashtra Saurashtra Saurashtra Saurashtra Saurashtra and Kutch and Kutch and Kutch and Kutch and Kutch and Kutch and Kutch and Kutch

KELKAR and SREEJITH : METEOROLOGICAL SUB-DIVISIONS OF INDIA 579

TABLE 2 (a) (Contd.) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) Konkan and Konkan Konkan Konkan Konkan Konkan Konkan Konkan Konkan Goa Deccan Bombay Deccan Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Maharashtra Maharashtra including Deccan (Desh) Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Marathwada Hyderabad North - - - Marathwada Marathwada Marathwada Marathwada North Hyderabad - - Vidarbha Vidarbha Vidarbha Vidarbha Vidarbha Vidarbha Vidarbha Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Madras Coast Coastal Andhra Andhra Andhra Andhra Andhra Andhra Andhra North Andhra Desa Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Hyderabad South Telangana Telangana Telangana Telangana Telangana Telangana Telangana South Hyderabad Madras Rayala- Rayala- Rayala- Rayala- Rayala- Rayala- Rayala- Rayala- Deccan seema seema seema seema seema seema seema seema Madras Tamil Nadu Madras Madras State Madras State Madras State Madras State Madras State Southeast Malabar and Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Malabar South Kanara Mysore Mysore Mysore Mysore Mysore Mysore Mysore Interior Interior Interior Interior Interior Interior Mysore Mysore Mysore Mysore Mysore Mysore Mysore North North North North North North North Mysore Mysore Interior Interior Interior Interior Interior Interior Mysore Mysore Mysore Mysore Mysore Mysore Mysore South South South South South South South Travancore - Kerala Kerala Kerala Kerala Kerala Kerala Kerala Cochin Arabian Sea Arabian Sea Arabian Sea Arabian Sea Arabian Sea Arabian Sea Arabian Sea - - Islands Islands Islands Islands Islands Islands Islands

Source : Archives of IMD Pune

TABLE 2(b)

Meteorological sub-divisions of India (1969-2020)

1969-1970 1971 1972-1973 1974-1975 1976-1979 1980-2000 2001 2002-2019 2020 Total 33 Total 34 Total 35 Total 35 Total 35 Total 35 Total 35 Total 36 Total 36 Sub-divisions Sub-divisions Sub-divisions Sub-divisions Sub-divisions Sub-divisions Sub-divisions Sub-divisions Sub-divisions (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) Andaman and Andaman and Andaman and Andaman and Bay Islands Bay Islands Bay Islands Bay Islands Bay Islands Nicobar Nicobar Nicobar Nicobar Islands Islands Islands Islands Arunachal Arunachal Arunachal Arunachal Arunachal Arunachal Arunachal Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh North Assam North Assam Assam and Assam and Assam and Assam and Assam and Assam and Assam and Meghalaya Meghalaya Meghalaya Meghalaya Meghalaya Meghalaya Meghalaya Nagaland, Nagaland, Nagaland, Nagaland, Nagaland, Nagaland, Nagaland, Manipur, Manipur, Manipur, Manipur, Manipur, Manipur, Manipur, South Assam South Assam Mizoram and Mizoram and Mizoram and Mizoram and Mizoram and Mizoram and Mizoram and Tripura Tripura Tripura Tripura Tripura Tripura Tripura

580 MAUSAM, 71, 4 (October 2020)

TABLE 2 (b) (Contd.) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) Sub- Sub- Sub- Sub- Sub- Sub- Sub- Sub- Sub- Himalayan Himalayan Himalayan Himalayan Himalayan Himalayan Himalayan Himalayan Himalayan West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal and Sikkim and Sikkim and Sikkim and Sikkim and Sikkim Gangetic Gangetic Gangetic Gangetic Gangetic Gangetic GangeticWes Gangetic Gangetic West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal t Bengal West Bengal West Bengal Orissa Orissa Orissa Orissa Orissa Orissa Orissa Orissa Odisha Bihar Plateau Bihar Plateau Bihar Plateau Bihar Plateau Bihar Plateau Bihar Plateau Jharkhand Jharkhand Jharkhand Bihar Plains Bihar Plains Bihar Plains Bihar Plains Bihar Plains Bihar Plains Bihar Bihar Bihar Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh East Uttar East Uttar East Uttar East Uttar East East East East East Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Plains of Plains of Plains of Plains of Plains of West Uttar West Uttar West Uttar West Uttar West Uttar West Uttar West Uttar West Uttar Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Uttar Pradesh West Uttaranchal Hills of West Hills of West Hills of West Hills of West Hills of West until 2007 Uttaranchal Uttarakhand Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand after 2007 Haryana, Haryana, Haryana, Haryana, Haryana, Haryana, Haryana, Haryana, Haryana, Chandigarh Chandigarh Chandigarh Chandigarh Chandigarh Chandigarh Chandigarh Chandigarh Chandigarh and Delhi and Delhi and Delhi and Delhi and Delhi and Delhi and Delhi and Delhi and Delhi Punjab Punjab Punjab Punjab Punjab Punjab Punjab Punjab Punjab Himachal Himachal Himachal Himachal Himachal Himachal Himachal Himachal Himachal Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Jammu and Jammu and Jammu and Jammu and Jammu and Jammu and Jammu and Jammu and Jammu and Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir and Ladakh Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan West West West West West West West West West Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan East East East East East East East East East Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Rajasthan Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya West Madhya West Madhya West Madhya West Madhya Pradesh West Pradesh West Pradesh West Pradesh West Pradesh West Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh

East Madhya East Madhya East Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya East Madhya Pradesh and Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh East Pradesh East Pradesh East Pradesh East Pradesh East Pradesh Chhatttisgarh Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Saurashtra Saurashtra Saurashtra Saurashtra Saurashtra Saurashtra Saurashtra Saurashtra Saurashtra and Kutch and Kutch and Kutch and Kutch and Kutch and Kutch and Kutch and Kutch and Kutch Konkan and Konkan and Konkan and Konkan and Konkan and Konkan and Konkan and Konkan and Konkan and Goa Goa Goa Goa Goa Goa Goa Goa Goa Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Madhya Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Marathwada Marathwada Marathwada Marathwada Marathwada Marathwada Marathwada Marathwada Marathwada Vidarbha Vidarbha Vidarbha Vidarbha Vidarbha Vidarbha Vidarbha Vidarbha Vidarbha Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Andhra Andhra Andhra Andhra Andhra Andhra Andhra Andhra Andhra Pradesh and Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh Yanam

KELKAR and SREEJITH : METEOROLOGICAL SUB-DIVISIONS OF INDIA 581

TABLE 2 (b) (Contd.) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) Telangana Telangana Telangana Telangana Telangana Telangana Telangana Telangana Telangana Rayala- Rayala- Rayala- Rayala- Rayala- Rayala- Rayala- Rayala- Rayala- seema seema seema seema seema seema seema seema seema Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Puducherry and Karaikal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Coastal Mysore Mysore Mysore Karnataka Karnataka Karnataka Karnataka Karnataka Karnataka Interior Interior Interior Interior Interior North Interior North Interior North Interior North Interior Mysore Mysore Mysore Karnataka Karnataka Karnataka Karnataka Karnataka Karnataka North North North North North Interior Interior Interior Interior Interior South Interior South Interior South Interior South Interior Mysore Mysore Mysore Karnataka Karnataka Karnataka Karnataka Karnataka Karnataka South South South South South Kerala and Kerala Kerala Kerala Kerala Kerala Kerala Kerala Kerala Mahe Arabian Sea Arabian Sea Arabian Sea Laksha- Laksha- Laksha- Laksha- Laksha- Laksha- Islands Islands Islands dweep dweep dweep dweep dweep dweep

Source : Archives of IMD Pune

out of the hilly districts of Assam and statehood was ‘Uttar Pradesh East’ and ‘Uttar Pradesh West’. This accorded to Manipur and Tripura. The North-East Frontier situation continued until 1971, when ‘Uttar Pradesh West’ Agency (NEFA), known earlier as the North-East Frontier was further bifurcated by IMD into two sub-divisions, Tract (NEFT) under the British rule, was given the status ‘Plains of West Uttar Pradesh’ and ‘Hills of West Uttar of a with the name of Arunachal Pradesh. Pradesh’. Three decades later, in the year 2000, in The union territory of Mizoram was also created. In tune deference to persistent public demand, a new state was with these changes in the political map of India, IMD in carved out of the northwestern hilly regions of Uttar 1972 delineated ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ as a separate Pradesh and given the name of Uttaranchal. It was meteorological sub-division, the third in the northeastern renamed as Uttarakhand in 2007. The sub-division region. It renamed the remaining part of ‘North Assam’ as formerly known as ‘Hills of West Uttar Pradesh’ was ‘Assam and Meghalaya’ sub-division. It also renamed accordingly given the name of the state, first ‘Uttaranchal’ ‘South Assam’ as ‘Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and and then ‘Uttarakhand’. Tripura’ sub-division including Nagaland which had been made a state in 1963. Fifteen years later in 1987, both Himachal Pradesh was established in 1948 as a Chief Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram became states. Commissioner's Province within the Union of India. It comprised the hill districts around Shimla and southern The Andaman and Nicobar group of islands became hill areas of the former Punjab region. It became a Part C a part of independent India only in 1950 and was declared state in 1950 and a union territory in 1956. IMD created as a union territory in 1956. In 1957, IMD created a new the meteorological sub-division of ‘Himachal Pradesh’ in sub-division with the name of ‘Bay Islands’ which in 1964 by bifurcating the larger ‘Punjab’ sub-division. 1980, was made more specific as ‘Andaman and Nicobar Himachal Pradesh actually came into existence as a state Islands’. in 1971.

4.3. North and northwest India Even before the linguistic reorganization of states in 1956, there had been several movements for the separation The United Provinces of Agra and Oudh had been of the predominantly Hindi-and Punjabi-speaking districts created in 1937 in north India under the British rule. After of Punjab state. Eventually this was agreed to and a new independence, the name was shortened to Uttar Pradesh in state of Haryana was carved out of Punjab in 1966 with 1950. In 1953, IMD split the large meteorological sub- Chandigarh as a union territory. IMD acting in parallel, division of ‘United Provinces’ into two, naming them as bifurcated the ‘Punjab’ meteorological sub-division into

582 MAUSAM, 71, 4 (October 2020)

‘Punjab’ and ‘Haryana’ sub-divisions in 1967. In 1969, subsequent reorganization of the Gujarat state, the latter the ‘Haryana’ sub-division was renamed as ‘Haryana, sub-division was renamed as ‘East Gujarat State’ in 1959 Chandigarh and Delhi’ so as to specifically clarify that it and as ‘Gujarat Region’ in 1961. included the two union territories. In 1960, Bombay state was split into the linguistic ‘Rajputana West’ and ‘Rajputana East’ states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Maharashtra was meteorological divisions which existed from the very formed by merging the western and south-western parts of beginning, were renamed as ‘West Rajasthan’ and ‘East the Bombay state with the Marathi-speaking districts in Rajasthan’ sub-divisions in 1952. Hyderabad and Madhya Pradesh states. After toying with names like ‘Bombay Deccan’, ‘Deccan (Desh)’, In 2019, the Jammu and Kashmir state was ‘Maharashtra’ and ‘Deccan including Marathwada’ over bifurcated into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir the earlier years, IMD in 1961 divided Maharashtra into and Ladakh. The meteorological sub-division known as four meteorological sub-divisions named ‘Konkan’, ‘Jammu and Kashmir’ was subsequently renamed by IMD ‘Madhya Maharashtra’, ‘Marathwada’ and ‘Vidarbha’, as ‘Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh’. three of which have since remained unchanged.

4.4. Central India In 1961, the Portuguese colony of Goa was integrated with India, but it was much later in 1967 that The Central India Agency came into being in 1854 the ‘Konkan’ sub-division was extended southwards to and comprised some 148 princely states, big and small include Goa and renamed as ‘Konkan and Goa’. and it continued to exist until India got independence. IMD always had a meteorological province or division 4.6. South India named ‘Central India’ and it was further bifurcated into ‘Central India West’ and Central India East’ in 1908. In IMD had a sub-division named ‘Tamilnad’ 1948, Vindhya Pradesh state was created in 1948, from 35 between 1952 and 1956, when Madras state was princely states in the former Central India Agency and formed. However, Madras state was renamed as named after the of mountains, which ran Tamil Nadu in 1969 and IMD reverted back to that across it. In the same year, Madhya Bharat state was also name for its sub-division. created from another 25 princely states. In 1949, was formed out of the of Bhopal. In Andhra state was created in 1953 from the Telugu- 1952, IMD created two sub-divisions named similarly as speaking northern districts of Madras state. The state of ‘Vindhya Pradesh’ and ‘Madhya Bharat’ but they were Andhra Pradesh was formed in 1956, with the dissolution merged into the ‘Madhya Pradesh West’ sub-division in of the and the merger of Telangana with 1957. The present state of Madhya Pradesh came into Andhra Desa. However, IMD did not merge its respective being in 1956. sub-divisions. In 1957, IMD settled down with three separate sub-divisions named ‘Coastal Andhra Pradesh’, In the year 2000, a new state of Chhattisgarh was ‘Telangana’ and ‘Rayalaseema’, which have remained carved out of the eastern and southeastern districts of unchanged to date. Significantly, the merger of Telangana Madhya Pradesh state, fulfilling a longstanding public with Andhra Pradesh was revoked in 2014, when demand. IMD followed this development with the Telangana became a separate state. This is yet another bifurcation of the ‘East Madhya Pradesh’ meteorological example of the boundaries of a meteorological sub- sub-division into a new ‘Chhattisgarh’ sub-division and a division getting ratified as the political boundaries of a truncated ‘East Madhya Pradesh’ sub-division in 2002. state.

In 1950, Central Provinces and Berar became a part In 1957, after the state of Travancore-Cochin was of the newly created state of Madhya Pradesh. In 1956, renamed as Kerala, IMD renamed its sub-division Berar being a Marathi-speaking area, was transferred to likewise. In 1974, after the state of Mysore had changed Bombay state. IMD promptly created a new sub-division its name to Karnataka, IMD also changed the names of its named ‘Vidarbha’ in 1957. three sub-divisions in the state accordingly. At the same time, the ‘Arabian Sea Islands’ sub-division was renamed 4.5. Western India as ‘Lakshadweep’.

‘Gujarat’ which had always been a meteorological Recently, IMD has expanded the names of three of province, was bifurcated into ‘Saurashtra and Kutch’ and its sub-divisions to include explicitly the names of union ‘Gujarat State’ sub-divisions in 1952. In keeping with the territories in their geographical domain. These are

KELKAR and SREEJITH : METEOROLOGICAL SUB-DIVISIONS OF INDIA 583

‘Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam’, ‘Tamil Nadu, defined by IMD or named by it, have eventually been Puducherry and Karaikal’ and ‘Kerala and Mahe’. granted statehood or given that name as a state. These instances are summarized below: 5. Results and conclusion ‘Gujarat’ had been regarded as a meteorological An attempt has been made in this paper to trace the province by IMD since 1877 itself, although it was then a geopolitical evolution of the meteorological sub-divisions part of the Bombay presidency. In 1960, Gujarat became a of India from the time IMD was established in 1875. Two state. significant results that emerge from this study are that, (i) IMD’s sub-divisional classification of the country has ‘Chota Nagpur’ was a meteorological division of stood the test of time and (ii) IMD has not simply IMD since 1908. In 1959, the Chota Nagpur region was accepted or followed new alignments of geopolitical merged with Bihar to form a unified Bihar state. However, boundaries, but in many instances has preceded or IMD maintained the status quo with ‘Bihar Plateau’ and foreshadowed them. ‘Bihar Plains’ as separate sub-divisions. Eventually in 2001, Bihar state was once again split into two states, with 5.1. Coherence and homogeneity the plateau region becoming the new state of Jharkhand and the plains area became the truncated state of Bihar. The first result of this paper finds an independent and detailed scientific corroboration in a very recent study Between 1957 and 1959, IMD had a sub-division by Kulkarni et al. (2020) who have reexamined the named ‘Maharashtra’ which roughly conformed to the coherence and homogeneity of rainfall within each of the present sub-division of ‘Madhya Maharashtra’. In 1960, a current 34 sub-divisions of mainland India. They found all much larger state with the name of Maharashtra was created. of them to be “homogeneous and reasonably coherent” with just three exceptions, ‘South Interior Karnataka’, A sub-division named ‘Tamilnad’ existed from 1952 ‘North Interior Karnataka’ and ‘Madhya Maharashtra’. to 1956. Madras State was renamed as Tamil Nadu in Considering that many of the current sub-divisions derive 1969. their heritage from the meteorological provinces and divisions of Blanford and his successors, this is a truly In 1971, the ‘Uttar Pradesh West’ sub-division was remarkable conclusion. It is only a pointer to the deep split into ‘Plains of West Uttar Pradesh’ and ‘Hills of insight that the British meteorologists had into the climate West Uttar Pradesh’ sub-division. In 2001, Uttar Pradesh of the Indian region despite the scanty data available to state itself was split and the region covered by ‘Hills of them at that time. Kulkarni et al have further suggested West Uttar Pradesh’ sub-division became a separate state that in order to improve coherence and homogeneity in with the name of Uttaranchal, which in 2007 was renamed certain cases, (i) two of the current sub-divisions, as Uttarakhand. ‘Madhya Maharashtra’ and ‘Konkan and Goa’, need to be realigned and (ii) all three current sub-divisions in Since 1957 to date, IMD has had a sub-division Karnataka state need to be reorganized so as to include the named ‘Telangana’. In 2014, Telangana became a separate Ghats region along with the coastal region similar to the state with the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh state. erstwhile ‘Konkan and Ghats’ and ‘Malabar and Ghats’. The suggested re-delineation also calls for a split in some What may only be of historical interest now is the of the districts such as Satara in Maharashtra which fact that even in 1877, ‘East Bengal and Assam’ was include the Ghats region as well as the plains region, regarded by IMD as a separate meteorological province, reallocating the former to the coastal and Ghats distinct from the rest of Bengal. This became a political sub-divisions. These suggestions call for a paradigm shift reality in 1905, when Lord Curzon actually partitioned the from IMD’s philosophy of keeping revenue districts intact province of Bengal. Also in 1908, IMD had made ‘Orissa’ within a sub-division. If the suggestions are found a meteorological division and Orissa became a political acceptable on their own merit, it would be worthwhile to province in 1936. Likewise, IMD had demarcated ‘Sind’ convince the state administrations that it would be as a meteorological province in 1908. That too was made beneficial for them to redraw their district boundaries in a political province by separating it from the large line with IMD’s new sub-divisions. Bombay state in 1936.

5.2. Geopolitical correlation 5.3. Concluding remarks

As far as the second result of this paper is concerned, That the weather does not recognize political it is interesting to note that as many as 8 sub-divisions boundaries, may be called a clichéd statement, but it is

584 MAUSAM, 71, 4 (October 2020)

certainly true. Weather systems like monsoons, cyclones contents and views expressed in this research paper are the and western disturbances can sweep across all internal and views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the external political boundaries without any hindrance. views of the organizations they belong to. Climate, unlike the weather, does not simply play a passive role but in the long run, gives shape to the References geopolitical boundaries of a region. This happens through a subtle and indirect process as climate determines the Blanford, H. F., 1877, “The Indian Meteorologist's Vade-Mecum”, lifestyle of its people, their language, culture, traditions Thacker, Spink & Co. Calcutta, p281. and sources of livelihood. However, climate has its internal spatial variations as well, under whose influence, Blanford, H. F., 1886, “The Rainfall of India, Indian Meteorological Memoirs”, Vol.III, p658. smaller populations develop their own separate linguistic and cultural identities and aspirations, which eventually Blanford, H. F., 1889, “A Practical Guide to the Climates and Weather result in a realignment of political boundaries as discussed of India, Ceylon and Burmah and the Storms of Indian Seas”, Macmillan and Co., London, p396. by Kumar (1998). It is not the aim of this paper to make any future projection. It is limited to providing some basic Eliot, J., 1895, “Droughts and famines in India”, Report of the historical information to those who are involved in long International Meteorological Congress 1893, Chicago, U. S. term climate change research and may be using the data Department of Agriculture, Weather Bureau, Washington DC, 444-459. that IMD has meticulously preserved over a century and a half. Kulkarni, A., Guhathakurta, P., Patwardhan, S. and Gadgil, S., 2020, “Report on delineation of the meteorological sub-divisions of the States of India”, CRS Research Report No. 2/2020, p54. Acknowledgement Kulkarni, A., Guhathakurta, P., Patwardhan, S. and Gadgil, S., 2020, The authors would like to thank Head, Climate “Meteorological sub-divisions of India : Assessment of Research and Services, IMD, Pune and Director General coherence, homogeneity and recommended redelineation”, of Meteorology, New Delhi, for their support for Mausam, 71, 4, 585-604. providing all the facilities to carry out this research work. Kumar, B. B., 1998, “Small States Syndrome in India”, Concept This could not have been done without the active and Publishing Co., New Delhi, p186. enthusiastic participation of Mr. A. R. Sable, who work in Zubair, L., 2002, “Development of Meteorology in Sri Lanka”, Report central library of IMD, Pune office and put his efforts to submitted to International Research Institute for Climate collect some information from IMD Archives. The Prediction, Palisades, New York, p13.